Hi all, I've been kicking around the forum and driving my '88 DS for nearly 3 years now. I've shared my progress refurbishing that car and enjoying it over the last 12,000 miles in my very long and photo-heavy thread here:
https://s14net.vbulletin.net/forum/s...0-for-an-88-ds
These cars have a magnetic draw and I'm always keeping an eye on the market for an opportunity to snag another one, or at least some good parts. The story of this car begins for me in early December, when I found it listed on Craigslist in South San Francisco. You may have seen the ad - it was discussed a bit on the SIG list and the S14 Facebook group - featuring a few basic photos and describing the car as a barn find, survivor type of deal. Claimed to be ready for paint, the seller mentioned some other enticing aspects including all original parts and a motor that had been recently rebuilt.
The photos didn't give much to go on, but I called the seller and made arrangements to see the car. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but when I arrived I was encouraged to see that the car, despite looking rough in photos, was actually very complete and even in running condition. This is what I saw on that first visit:







The seller had owned it for something like 20 years, and had a business doing paint on muscle cars. He took this car off the road in 2008 to repaint it and never got around to spraying it and putting it back together. He started it every now and again to move the fluids around, drove it briefly from one storage facility to another, but had it sitting in this state until I came to see it. The trunk was stuffed with a ton of the original pieces, of particular interest to me all of the NLA, M3-specific kind of stuff including various C-pillar trim pieces, bumper brackets, side marker lamps, etc. He did a commendable job keeping everything with the car and, in most cases, taping the relevant fasteners to the components. The interior was complete and in very good condition - original seats with no tears at all, again with the M3-specific bits and bobs, no cracks on the dash. The engine bay was also very very tidy.
We know that the real risk in a purchase like this is the motor - he claimed it was rebuilt by a Dinan tech but didn't have any details about when that happened or what was done, so I asked to crank it over. The battery was flat, so I pulled the battery out of my tii and hooked it up. The car started on the 3rd or 4th attempt (tii battery is half the size of the M3 battery, so likely a factor) and sputtered to life pretty well. It needed a bit of encouragement with the throttle to get idling, but once it did there were no weird ticks, virtually no smoke out of the exhaust, and the idle settled in around 8-900 RPM.
Driving the car at that time was, unfortunately, not an option because the car was blocked in with pallets of muscle car parts (see first photo). Still, what had originally been a "check it out for kicks" visit suddenly gave me something very real to consider. The price originally listed with the car was very appealing - a good buy in today's market - and the seller told me that he had been inundated with calls from interested parties ranging from San Diego to Norway. I didn't know if the car would last, but I slept on it for a few days before setting up a time to come by again and drive the car.
https://s14net.vbulletin.net/forum/s...0-for-an-88-ds
These cars have a magnetic draw and I'm always keeping an eye on the market for an opportunity to snag another one, or at least some good parts. The story of this car begins for me in early December, when I found it listed on Craigslist in South San Francisco. You may have seen the ad - it was discussed a bit on the SIG list and the S14 Facebook group - featuring a few basic photos and describing the car as a barn find, survivor type of deal. Claimed to be ready for paint, the seller mentioned some other enticing aspects including all original parts and a motor that had been recently rebuilt.
The photos didn't give much to go on, but I called the seller and made arrangements to see the car. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but when I arrived I was encouraged to see that the car, despite looking rough in photos, was actually very complete and even in running condition. This is what I saw on that first visit:







The seller had owned it for something like 20 years, and had a business doing paint on muscle cars. He took this car off the road in 2008 to repaint it and never got around to spraying it and putting it back together. He started it every now and again to move the fluids around, drove it briefly from one storage facility to another, but had it sitting in this state until I came to see it. The trunk was stuffed with a ton of the original pieces, of particular interest to me all of the NLA, M3-specific kind of stuff including various C-pillar trim pieces, bumper brackets, side marker lamps, etc. He did a commendable job keeping everything with the car and, in most cases, taping the relevant fasteners to the components. The interior was complete and in very good condition - original seats with no tears at all, again with the M3-specific bits and bobs, no cracks on the dash. The engine bay was also very very tidy.
We know that the real risk in a purchase like this is the motor - he claimed it was rebuilt by a Dinan tech but didn't have any details about when that happened or what was done, so I asked to crank it over. The battery was flat, so I pulled the battery out of my tii and hooked it up. The car started on the 3rd or 4th attempt (tii battery is half the size of the M3 battery, so likely a factor) and sputtered to life pretty well. It needed a bit of encouragement with the throttle to get idling, but once it did there were no weird ticks, virtually no smoke out of the exhaust, and the idle settled in around 8-900 RPM.
Driving the car at that time was, unfortunately, not an option because the car was blocked in with pallets of muscle car parts (see first photo). Still, what had originally been a "check it out for kicks" visit suddenly gave me something very real to consider. The price originally listed with the car was very appealing - a good buy in today's market - and the seller told me that he had been inundated with calls from interested parties ranging from San Diego to Norway. I didn't know if the car would last, but I slept on it for a few days before setting up a time to come by again and drive the car.
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